BAY CITY — Kerkau Manufacturing and Bay City are continuing to add to a multimillion-dollar partnership.

Since 2005, the Bay City Commission has granted tax exemptions for almost $6.5 million of investments by the company that manufactures precision machine parts, castings and forgings.

“I know sometimes people are critical of the tax abatements, but in today’s economic times, I think, we need to offer whatever we can to keep people in the community,” said Bay City Commission President Kathleen Newsham, 8th Ward.

Kerkau Manufacturing has 12 active tax exemption certificates through the city, according to officials.

“Sometimes it keeps people employed and it keeps the manufacturing business in our community, which right now we really need to have as much business as we can in the community,” said Newsham, who has been a member of the Commission for nearly 20 years.

The newest abatement is for the purchase of three new CNC lathes and a robotic/machine interface. The tax abatement will cover the $1,469,764 in new machinery.

According to Amy DeHaan, city assessor, the company has fulfilled all of its tax abatement requirements in the past and currently is not delinquent on any taxes.

Officials from Kerkau Manufacturing, which operates a distribution center in Monitor Township, could not be reached for comment involving the company or the tax abatement..

Mike Seward, president of the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, said manufacturing companies investing in the Bay City area are helping the industry rebound from its most recent descent.

“It’s really great to see the manufacturing community — Kerkau and many others — really expanding and improving,” Seward said. “From a manufacturing basis, it looks like this area is moving away from the economic downturn in the economy.”